News

University of the Sciences recognizes April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month during a series of events scheduled for April 22 through April 26. This year’s campaign is aimed at fostering widespread dialogue about sexual assault prevention through open communication, respect for each and every individual, and the wholesale rejection of violence.

Throughout the week, the Mercadante Atrium in the Athletic/Recreation Center is hosting the Clothesline Project. The showcase features t-shirts created by sexual violence survivors during their treatment and recovery. This touching initiative offers a very personal look at the stories of survivors.

Verizon Wireless is collaborating with USciences to hold a week-long collection of old cell phones inside Whitecar Hall, as part of Verizon’s HopeLine Cell Phone Donation program. Phones donated by students, faculty, and staff will be recycled by HopeLine, which uses funds generated through phone recycling operations to support victims of domestic violence.

The USciences campus turns blue on Wednesday, April 24 – officially designated as Denim Day. On this special day, students, faculty, and staff are invited to wear their favorite pair of blue jeans to protest harmful, yet common attitudes displayed towards victims of sexual assault – including the position that victims are somehow responsible for their fate. Blue jeans first became a sexual assault symbol after a 1990s Italian court decision that overturned a suspect’s sexual assault conviction, due to testimony that revealed the victim wore tight blue jeans prior to the attack.

Elsewhere on campus, the J.W. England Library is raising awareness by hosting relevant book and informational displays about sexual assault. A series of public service announcements and a post-it note campaign featuring messages about healthy relationships will raise awareness across the campus.

For more information about the 2013 Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign at USciences – or sexual assault, in general – please contact Karen Levinson in Student Health & Counseling at (215) 596-8536 or shac@usciences.edu.